Homegrown Heroes - March 2013

I am fortunate enough to own a LeMans Blue ’68 Camaro Z/28 with the original engine, transmission, and rearend. I bought the car out of Columbus, Ohio, in 2001. I probably don’t have a tenth of the automotive talent that many of your readers do, but I do love working on classic cars (I’m retired from law enforcement after 30 years), and I am persistent if nothing else.

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A few examples of what’s been done to the Z/28 include rebuilding, balancing, and blueprinting the engine; repainting the car in the original LeMans Blue with white stripes; recovering the seats; installing new door panels; locating an original ’67-’68 AM radio and installing it; and completely rewiring the car from front to back. And this doesn’t cover it all!

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I have had a great deal of help along the way, especially from my daughter, who lives locally here in Puyallup, Washington, and still occasionally attends local car shows with me.

Buddy NeSmith: ’65 GTO

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In early 1970 I purchased my third car. It was a ’65 GTO coupe with a 389, four-barrel, and a four-speed. I was 17 years old. The motor was shot, and by midsummer I had saved enough money to have the engine rebuilt. Its performance was everything I had expected. I drove the car for the next four years until my wife and I sold it for next to nothing. Like thousands of others, high gas prices, marriage, careers, and raising our children left little room for a muscle car other than the memories.

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Those memories are the reason my wife surprised me on my 50th birthday with another ’65 GTO. This one was a four-speed hardtop. It was a project car, to say the least. With our budget it was out of the question for her to purchase a restored car, or for me to have this car restored by someone else. I was excited to have this car and at the same time overwhelmed thinking, How the heck am I ever going to do this? I finally convinced myself that others have done this, surely I can!

I started by educating myself. I bought books, videos, read every article I could in muscle car magazines concerning car restoration. I then purchased the tools I needed and added onto my shop for the space needed to restore my car. Those things alone took several years. I have gone from knowing very little about welding to fabricating parts that are not available.

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As you can see in the photos, this was a frame-off restoration. This car gave a new meaning to the term rust bucket. I replaced the rear quarters, front and back floor pans, trunk pans, and gas tank, and put patch panels on the doors and front fenders. Fabrication included the front and rear window areas. I even replaced the dash from a donor car.

When I sent the car’s numbers to Pontiac Historic Services, I learned this was an original Tri-power, so I trashed the 455 someone had dropped in and found a 389 replacement. The 389 has been rebuilt with a little extra and is waiting on my installation of front disc brakes. The same guy who rebuilt my original 389 back in 1970 is rebuilding this one. Why mess with perfection?

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This has been a very long project, and I am still a year, at best, from completion. It has been overwhelming at times, but I try to break it down into sections and focus on that rather than the whole project. I have gone from not knowing what a MIG welder is to fabricating sheetmetal into replacement parts. It has truly been a learning experience for me. With the exception of the engine, to date none of the restoration has been farmed out. I am convinced that with the right tools, good advice, and a patient spouse, anyone can restore their dream car.

Is your car a Homegrown Hero? Share the story of how you rebuilt your ride, along with some photos of the car under construction and how it looks today. Email your stories and high-resolution digital photos to mcreview@sbcglobal.net, or mail them to Muscle Car Review, Homegrown Heroes, 831 S. Douglas St., El Segundo, CA 90245. We reserve the right to edit your stories, and photos cannot be returned.